A lot of you get sick of the little piece-by-piece rumor mill of the hot stove season, preferring that we wait until there’s a solid news story instead of a mere rumor to talk about something. I understand why you feel that way, but I disagree with that approach for the simple reason that I view a blog as a conversation, and you shouldn’t expect your friendly neighborhood blogger to zip it until news is official any more than you would the guy on the next bar stool over from you.

Wait. Bad example. God, I wish that guy would shut up.

Anyway, the point is that we make it pretty darn clear when we actually pretend to be reporting news around here. The rest of the time we’re just chatting, and there’s no harm in that. Chat back at us. That’s what the comments are for.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I’m going to offer you another one of those little bitty pieces of gossip that drive some of you crazy: According to 590 The Fan (question: is there a sports radio station in the country that doesn’t call itself “the Fan”?) Matt Holliday has put an offer down on a home in the St. Louis area. I’m guessing this means that the courtship is over and the kissing has begun.

Next up: Jon Heyman tweets that Holliday has signed offer sheets on houses in Balitmore, New York and San Francisco, and that he’s very close to signing a lease on a co-op in a “mystery city.”

The Cardinals have always emphasized building from within. In the 2016-17 offseason, however, they may end up being one of the bigger free agent buyers. At least according to some informed speculation.

The Cardinals are already losing their first round pick due to the Fowler signing, so any other top free agent won’t cost them more than the money he’s owed. And as far as money goes, the Cardinals have a great deal of it, despite being a small market team. They have a billion dollar TV deal coming online and Matt Holliday and Jaime Garcia are off the payroll now. Spending big on a free agent or three would not cripple them or anything.

Encarnacion or Trumbo would be first baseman, which wold fly in the face of the Cards’ move of Matt Carpenter to first base (and, at least as far as Encarnacion goes, would fly in the face of good defense). Getting either of them would push Carpenter back to second, displacing Kolten Wong, or over to third, displacing Jhonny Peralta. If you’re going to do that, I’d say that Turner would make more sense, but what do I know?

Either way, the Cardinals may be entering a pretty interesting phase of their offseason now. And an unfamiliar one as, quite possibly, the top free agent buyer on the market.

There is literally nothing you could tell me that the incoming administration is considering which would shock me anymore. As such, I saw this story when I woke up this morning, blinked once, took a sip of coffee, closed the browser window and just went on with my morning, as desensitized as a wisdom tooth about to be yanked.

Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports that Former Red Sox, Mets and Rangers manager Bobby Valentine is on a short-list of candidates for the job of United States Ambassador to Japan:

The 66-year-old, who currently serves as Sacred Heart University’s athletics director, has engaged in preliminary discussions with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team regarding the position.

Valentine managed the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League for six seasons, leading the team to a championship in 2005. He also knows the current prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, as both went to USC. Assuming championship teams meet the country’s leader in Japan like they do in the United States, Valentine has at least twice the amount of experience with top political leaders than does, say, Ned Yost, so that’s something.

The former manager, more importantly, is friends with Donald Trump’s brother, with the two of them going way back. Which, given how this transition is going, seems like a far more important set of qualifications than anything else on this list.